This invention concerns a reel to wind packages of wire. To be more exact, the invention concerns a reel able to form coils of rod or wire and particularly, but not only, of welding wire.
The invention can also be employed for the winding of any filiform material or material which can be likened thereto, such as plastic hoses, electrical wire or other materials.
The invention can therefore be used to wind wires of various types in coils, such as metallic, plastic or coated wires or yet other types.
Different types of reels to wind wire are known. For instance, patent IT No. 1,049,684 in the name of STEIN is known and discloses the construction of a reel by welding together a given number of bent metallic rod elements. These elements are such that, when they have been united, they form a series of U-shaped spokes connected together by peripheral circumferential arcs.
The main shortcoming of this structure consists in the low rigidity of the whole. In fact, there are no cross members or other reinforcement elements to stiffen the structure axially or circumferentially.
A consequent drawback lies in the fact that the structure cannot take up the tension of the winding of material on it without excessive deformation when the reel has been detached from the removable flange portion with which the reel cooperates during the winding.
Another shortcoming consists in the easy deformation of the coils of wire wound on the reel when the reel is being handled, transported and used. Moreover, such reel requires an additional portion, such as an adapter, when it has to cooperate wiht the shaft of a winding machine or with an unwinding spindle.
In fact, the above reel for wire does not comprise in itself a hub or like means to perform such cooperation.
Another known embodiment is disclosed in patent IT No. 1,009,680, also in the name of STEIN. This patent discloses a reel consisting of two circular elements made of welded rod and joined together by U-shaped spokes which provide the support for the various coils.
This type of reel too has a low rigidity, mainly in the axial direction, owing to the low rigidity of the U-shaped spokes. Moreover, this reel, like the above cited IT No. 1,049,684, requires an adapter for use on a winding machine since in itself it lacks a hub or like means.
Patent FR No. 2,272,941 discloses an analogous reel for winding purposes.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,932,059 discloses a reel made of welded rod and consisting of two heads connected by cross rods on which the wire is wound. Each head consists of looped rods variously conformed and welded to each other, with or without an outer stiffening ring and possibly with a central core. Moreover, this embodiment includes a great number of parts, and the heads are not flat.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,233,449 discloses a knock-down reel of which the elements are assembled by insertion of lugs into openings; owing to its very nature this invention cannot ensure great rigidity; moreover, it is complex to construct owing to the presence of interlocking spokes.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,396,450 discloses a reel having a core formed of only three cross members, the winding therefore being prismatic and not circular; the structure is generally light and ill-suited for heavy winding duties, such as the winding of welding wire, for instance.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,566,867 discloses a light reel specifically intended for hoses for watering purposes and having side frames consisting of V-shaped elements welded at their ends to a stiffening ring, together with cross members to bear the wound hose.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,972,723 (WHITE) discloses reels having heads analogous to those of U.S. Pat. No. 1,932,059. The central core consists of a sheet or plate metal cylinder welded to the heads. This embodiment seems heavy and wasteful; moveover, it does not provide a reel consisting wholly of welded wire or rod.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,089,485 discloses another type of reel consisting of a set of elements formed as a sector of a cylinder, each element being a bent piece of wire. Each element comprises a cross member produced by bending and positioned axially to the reel.
Each element is obtained solely by bending a piece of wire and the various elements forming a sector of a cylinder are welded to each other to provide the whole reel.
As compared to the types cited above, this reel provides the great advantage of not requiring a central adapter for working with the shaft of a winding machine, such as a welding machine, for instance, which employs wire wound on a reel.
In fact, the conformation of the elements as cylindrical sectors is such that, when they have been welded together, they form a central hub of a substantially circular shape able to cooperate with the cited shaft.
However, this embodiment too entails various drawbacks, of which the first consists in the great quantity of metallic rod material required to construct such reel.
Moreover, the various elements are connected with spot welds which are not very strong and which do not contribute to the stiffening of the whole since the sections of the rods at the spot welds are slender.
Moreover, as the axial cross members on which the wire is wound are made with a bent segment of the elements forming the whole reel, such segment has a low rigidity as compared to the rigidity obtainable with welded cross members, for instance.
The whole reel, therefore, owing to its very nature does not possess enough rigidity and yet is heavy and is hard and burdensome to construct.
Another shortcoming of this embodiment lies in the fact that it is hard to connect the various elements forming the reel by welding and to maintain a correct coplanar positioning in correspondence with the circular heads of the reel which form the lateral flanges to hole the wound wire. In fact, neighboring elements often are staggered axially.
This means that, to obtain even winding, the radial elements of the reel have to be inserted more deeply in the corresponding hollows of the removable winding means.
As a result, when the completed package of wound wire has been withdrawn from such removable element, the coils tend to sag sideways against the heads of the reel in a very loose manner, and therefore the coils tend to become disarranged as they are not properly supported.
EP No. 0064894 and U.S. Pat. No. 1,850,265 disclose reels, of which the first is to hold welding wire and films, whereas the second is to hold films. Both of them provide a central element made of steel sheet, a plastic or another material and cooperating with radial elements, the whole assembly not offering the required flatness at its sides nor general solidity.
FR No. 2,299,258 discloses a reel made of elements extending in three dimensions from its center but not having a hub.